


Another promise fallen through, another season passes by you

by Aaronlisa



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Gen, Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-24
Updated: 2016-10-24
Packaged: 2018-08-24 07:56:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8364160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aaronlisa/pseuds/Aaronlisa
Summary: It's took late to save her.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Set during Season Three. This was written for LJ's 500themes for the prompt of it's too late. The title comes from the song "In a Big Country."

No one but the Mayor is supposed to know about the apartment but somehow it doesn't surprise her when she opens her door after fifteen minutes of insistent knocking to find Angel standing on her doorstep. Faith doesn't say anything as she throws the door open for her. She silently invites him in with a wave of her arm. Whatever he has to say, she doesn't feel like having it said on her doorstep for her neighbours to overhear. 

"You should be careful about who you let in," Angel tells her, 

"Is that a threat?" 

"Just an observation." 

Faith slams the door shut before pushing past him. She can't help but wonder if the real Angelus is just as tedious as his souled counterpart is. Angel follows her into the lounge space and watches as she flops down on the couch. She picks up the video game controller, intent on pretending like his presence isn't bothering her at all. Yet she can't seem to focus on winning the game as the silence between them stretches. Faith pauses the game and throws the controller back down on the couch beside her.

"What do you want?" Faith snarls. 

She's really in no mood to hear Angel's promises of how he can save her or the speeches about how she's just misguided but she belongs on the team with the white hats. It's exhausting how they can't seem to get it through their thick skulls that she doesn't want to be saved. Yet it seems to bother her more when it comes from Angel than the others. He might feel guilty for what Angelus had done but he's not really Angelus. How could he know what she's dealing with? 

Angel looks at her and then looks away from her. The television screen captures his attention and she realises that what she despises about isn't his do-good attitude. Unlike Buffy, Angel truly believes that everyone is redeemable and that they can be saved. She slides off the couch and walks over to him. Faith can't help but think that this will be an easy game to play. She presses her palm against his chest and smirks up at him. It's easy to tell that he's uncomfortable. 

"Do you really think that everyone is redeemable just because you were saved?" 

"Faith it's not too late," Angel tells her. 

She moves closer and he takes a step backwards. It'd almost be funny, if it was anyone else. There's a part of her that likes Angel and that even likes the fact that he wants to save her. Not because of Buffy or some other reason but just because he doesn't see her as a complete piece of trash. 

"Answer my question! Do you really think that you can save everyone?" Faith demands. 

She's backed him up against the brick wall. He nods at her, strangely docile despite the fact that she knows he can easily turn the tables against her. 

"Do you think that the Mayor can be saved?" Faith asks. 

"This isn't about him, this is about _you_ ," Angel tells her. 

"Why won't you answer my question?' Faith asks. 

She moves her hands so that they're resting flat against the wall beside his shoulders. Angel remains silent. 

"If I am redeemable and you're redeemable, surely the Mayor is to," Faith says. "Don't you want to save him? Wouldn't it be easier to save him than destroy him? Think about what it must do to Buffy? All this killing? If you can save me, can't you save him?" 

He stands there silent and she laughs him as she pushes off the wall. 

"Is it just pretty girls that you want to save?" Faith cruelly asks him. 

Angel snarls and grabs her wrist as she tries to turn away from him. She glares at him as he presses her against the wall. 

"Fine, the Mayor's not redeemable. He's evil through and through. Not everyone's worth saving but you are." 

"And why's that Angel? What is it about me that makes you so desperate to save me? Faith asks. "Do you figure that if you can't have _her_ , if you save me you can have me? Maybe it's not the same but surely being the second best Slayer won't make you go and lose your soul again?" 

"Don't make this something dirty," Angel snarls down at her. 

She pushes at him and he allows it. She slips away from and heads back towards the couch. He just doesn't get it. He never has. 

"It's too late," Faith tiredly says. "It's far too late. The end game is days away and it's too late to try to save me," 

"It's never too late," Angel tells her. 

"He plans on ascending during the graduation ceremony. It's too late to stop it from happening but from what I understand, he'll be at his weakest in the first few moments after he's ascended. He's going to be immune to most things but he's worried about fire. Real worried." 

"Faith please," Angel tries again. 

"No!' Faith shouts at him. This is what _I_ want. I know you don't want to believe that but I made this choice." 

She doesn't have it in her to tell him that this is no longer about good or evil anymore. She knows that she can't be save because she's heard it for far too many years from far too many people. She's not sure if Angel can use what she's told him so that he and Buffy and the others can save the day. Maybe they can, maybe they can't. However, she's going to spend the last few days that she has left protecting the Mayor. He's the only person that's made her feel like she matters. 

Angel sighs and reaches out to her. He gently grips her shoulder and for a moment, she suspects that he's going to start preaching at her again. It's tiresome and boring. 

"If you change your mind," Angel says, leaving the rest of it unspoken. 

"Yeah, yeah, if I change my mind, I know where to find you and the other white hats," Faith bitterly says. "But I won't change my mind." 

Angel gently squeezes her shoulder and not for the first time, it makes Faith wonder about how her life would be different if she had come to Sunnydale first instead of Buffy. ff she had even had a third of what Buffy has. He leaves quietly and Faith feels completely hollow. 

She's just betrayed the Mayor. The one person who has ever really cared about her. The one person who has done nice things for her. Deep down inside, Faith's not unaware of the fact that whilst the Mayor does care for her and does nice things for, he's also eager to use her up just like everyone else in her life has been. If she stopped being useful to him, she knows that he wouldn't hesitate to destroy her for all of his talk about her being the daughter he never had. 

Faith sighs as she drops down on the couch again. Even now this close to his big day, she has no clue as to what will happen when he ascends. The only thing she knows with any certainty is that it's too late to save her. Even if Buffy wins, Faith can't be redeemed because she's gone ahead and betrayed the Mayor. 

She's still worthless. 

((END))


End file.
